(Oak Harbor, WA)- The City of Oak Harbor, the Oak Harbor Yacht Club, the
Oak Harbor Junior Sailing program and the Whidbey Island organizers
welcomed racers to their private little playground for another year of
fun-in-the-sun and sailboat racing in Penn Cove and in the Saratoga
Passage!For 32 years, sailors have convened in Oak Harbor, Washington for “Adult Summer Camp” to enjoy the most spectacular sailing event in the Pacific Northwest. Surrounded by snow-capped mountains, predictable breeze and an occasional Orca sighting, Whidbey Island Race Week has earned the reputation for offering some of the best racing in the region. Under the management of the incredibly talented and compassionate couple, Charley and Schelleen Rathkopf, they’ve managed Race Committee at Whidbey Island Race Week for over a decade and have a highly experienced race committee team.
Racers can look forward to “the Whidbey” every year because it’s such a fantastic vacation for the family as well. Plus, when crews dress-up in costumes while sailing and, hopefully, not only winning the race but the party and the awards for the “best dressed” crew (getting that rare “trifecta”), the bottom line is that everyone is having a good time! Indeed, it is an “adult summer camp” where just about everyone is getting “there ya’ ya’s out”!
The Whidbey is a ‘Must-Do’ for Pacific Northwest sailors and it attracts a broad range of boats from the Seattle, WA area as well as Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia. This year’s racing featured J/105 one-designs as well as PHRF handicap racing.
The
J/105s had a half-dozen boats on the starting line and after winning 7
of 9 races sailed, it was pretty clear that everyone knew who was #1 in
the J/105 fleet- Jerry Diercks and the most deliriously happy crew on
the big ship DELIRIUM. While they gave it their all, the trio of Cohen,
McKinnon & Rummel (a law firm?) that sailed INCONCEIVABLE strung
together a series of 2nds and 3rds to take second. Robert Blaylock’s
USAWI took whatever 3rds that were left to also finish third for the
event!In the world of PHRF handicap racing, it appears the J/Teams took at least their fair share of the silverware. In PHRF 4, they took 3 of the top 5, including Bob Mayfield & Christine Nelson’s J/29 SLICK topping the charts with just 9 pts! Fourth and fifth, respectively, were the two J/33s, Tom Kerr’s renowned CORVO and Todd Koetje’s HRAVN.
In PHRF P1, the mighty J/122 ANAM CARA sailed by Tom Kelly could only manage a fourth in the light conditions they faced all week long. In PHRF P8, Peter Sauer’s J/24 GARAGE SAIL took a third place.
PHRF P3 was overwhelmed by well-sailed J/crews that ranged from the J/90 up to a cast of J/109s; in fact, there were nine J’s in a class of 12 boats! Winning class was Jim Prentice’s J/109 DIVA from Canada, sailing “lights out” and never giving an inch to the rest of the class, posting six 1sts and two 2nds in the nine races sailed. Stu Brunell’s J/109 TANTIVY took third while Brian White’s J/35 GRACE E was 5th and David & Vernice Cohen’s J/90 EYE EYE was 6th. The rest of the top ten were J’s, including Jerry Woodfield’s J/109 SHADA 7th, Ernie Chatham’s J/35 JABIRU 8th, Jerry McKay’s J/35 MELANGE 9th and Ed Pinkham’s J/109 JEOPARDY in 10th! Sailing photo credits- Jan Anderson For more Whidbey Island Race Week sailing information
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